John Kearns

Dreams and Dull Realities John Kearns

A unified collection of stories, "Dreams and Dull Realities" plays variations on the theme of imagination's colliding with concrete reality. The collection's lyrical, comical, touching, and absurd stories portray seven male and five female Irish-American and Latino protagonists whose vibrant interior lives contrast sharply with their dreary exterior lives. Beginning with the prize-winning, "Flight," the collection takes readers on a tour through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and aging in Philadelphia and The Bronx, employing a variety of styles. Internal monologues depict the thoughts of children and teenagers. A parody of sports announcers describes a Friday commute. A loquacious Dominican sister narrates the tale of her "tragic" trip home for Thanksgiving. Expressionistic detail illuminates the bizarre weekly ritual of a group of retired men. Written and revised over the course of more than twenty years, the twelve stories of "Dreams and Dull Realities" form a singular powerful work.